If a guy is excessively devoted to his mother and he's not obviously a manly man, then he will be seen as a sensitive guy even if he doesn't act like one. His mother might try to completely dominate his life, to the point of telling him who to marry (and if he disobeys then she'll try to ruin his relationship or at least ruin her life too), turning him into a Momma's Boy: hopeless with women, timid, weak, and lacking the spirit to stand up to his mother. His father will be absent or just as browbeaten. On the other hand, if he does stand up to her then he's not a Momma's Boy, even though she's still My Beloved Smother.

Young examples are shown sympathetically, older ones are usually Acceptable Targets because no one can be a badass if he always obeys his mother's instructions (unless she's encouraging him to be a badass which would make her more of an Action Mom). Note the Double Standard in this trope, as a girl with a controlling father is almost never Played for Laughs.

A young boy has a better chance of escaping mommy's patronage than an adult — who will, if anything, end up with a domineering wife instead. Sometimes an Oedipus Complex is involved. Rescue is unlikely: there aren't many Action Girls running around looking for poor oppressed boys. So there's the real danger that Momma's boy will grow old alone, until smother dies, when it's too late to change their ways and set right what went wrong.

Although the trope is usually played as inherently negative, it can also be portrayed in a more positive light, becoming essentially a gender-inversion of Daddy's Girl in which mother and son are simply very close and utterly adore each other, often to the exclusion of the father (if he's even around to begin with); and while the well-meaning mother might naturally welcome the idea of her son getting hooked, the usual doting and spoiling with which she treats her son might be a bit overwhelming for potential Love Interests... if she didn't accidentally scare them off with her overprotectiveness first. This form is still likely to be Played for Laughs, but in a more endearing way.

The perception of this trope varies by culture. For instance, in Anglophone countries where individuality is highly valued, the trope is more likely to be negative, but in Asian and Latin American cultures where living with parents until (and even after) marriage is normal, that kind of devotion to one's parents is more likely to be seen positively.

Examples:

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Anime and Manga

Gohan and Goten in Dragon Ball Z. In Dragon Ball GT, Goten is 22 and still lives with Mom, while Gohan is pushing thirty and lives right next-door with his wife and daughter. Chichi is overly strict with Gohan and seems to have realized her mistakes and been overly lenient with Goten, but both sons love her dearly.

Ash Ketchum from Pokémon. Why wouldn't he be one? His mother is the only family he has, and he understandably flips out if something bad happens to her (see also: the third movie, Spell of the Unown). To be fair, even a non-Momma's Boy would flip if their mother was in mortal danger.

A quite weird case is shown in Detective Conan. Conan and the detective kids actually find a "haunted house" where a mother keeps her son locked in the basement to wait until Statute of Limitations past, even when the guy is guilty and does want to go to jail for his crime. Eventually, Conan helps the culprit convince his mother to let him go and turn himself in.

Kunio Murai from Great Teacher Onizuka is incredibly overprotective from his mother to an obnoxious and paranoaic extreme. He hates when someone gets close to her, dislikes thinking maybe someday she'll remarry, and his Berserk Button is people getting pervy over her.

Edward and Alphonse Elric both dearly loved their mother Trisha, so much that they didn't want to accept her death and attempted to revive her.

Wrath from the 2003 adaptation is a villainous example. He is Izumi's still-born son and thus has deep mother issues once he regains his memories. He thinks she abandoned him and hates her for it. Wrath is drawn to Sloth, who was born from the failed resurrection of Trisha and thus looks exactly like her, and even glues themselves together just before she dies however in the end he does recognize Izumi is his mother. A deleted scene from Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa had a tearjerker scene where he meets up with her right when she dies.. In the final product he ends up Together in Death with her when he dies.

Greece from Axis Powers Hetalia remains devoted to the memory of his mother long after her death, working to excavate the ruins and pass on the myths she left behind. This is not portrayed negatively (his mother was the great Ancient Greece, after all) and while some fanfics have his Sitcom Archnemesis Turkey mock him with this trope, it's usually presented as just a petty insult and Greece's relationship with his mother is usually portrayed positively/sympathetically in them.

Takashi in Nicoichi is extremely attached to his mother such that when she passed away in a traffic accident when he was two, he kept on clamouring for her without knowing she could never return, forcing his new guardian (and protagonist of the series) to assume the role of a mother and kickstarting the plot.

Bleach: Ichigo was one when he was younger. Yes, that Ichigo. Back then, he used to be a major crybaby, but whenever his mom appeared he would stop and would immediately smile. She was the center of not only his world, but his family as well. Her death is what caused him to be what he is today.

Side material for Fate/Zero says that the most effective counter to Rider is his mother. A completely Justified Trope: this particular Rider is Alexander the Great, who was a Momma's Boy in history.

Two characters in My Hero Academia fall into this trope. Main protagonist Izuku Midoriya has a strong bond with his mother. Her opinion means as much to him as his hero and mentor, All Might. Far more in line with this trope is Shoto Todoroki. He acknowledges that his mother is the one responsible for the burn scars on the left side of his fact, but feels that the act was caused largely by his abusive father, Endeavor, and sympathizes with her.

Kiba Inuzuka and Shikamaru Nara put up tough acts, but will change their attitude quickly when their badassmothers, Tsume and Yoshino, come calling.

Gaara originally thought he was the cause of his mother Karura's death and she died hating him, but upon learning that his dying mother actually put all her Chakra into his sand powers (meaning she'd been protecting him the whole time), Gaara was overwhelmed and broke down in tears.

Naruto never knew a mother's love, but got some idea of it when he bonded with Tsunade. He finally met his mother Kushina when her sealed spirit came to help him tame the Nine-Tails and while he didn't recognize her at first, upon finding out, he quickly turned on the water works and cuddled his mother's spirit. According to Naruto that was the happiest he ever felt (at the time at least), and this loving care helped Naruto to finally control the Nine Tails.

Naruto's son, the eponymous protagonist of Boruto, can be pretty spiteful towards most people, but he loves his mother Hinata and sister Himawari dearly. This aspect of his personality only accentuates his aggravation with his increasingly busy father. He feels that Naruto is not only neglecting his children but also his wife, and that annoys Boruto.

One Piece has a few momma's boys, but only a few them are played off as creepy weirdos.

Usopp is the first one, for very good reason. His badass super dad Yasopp left the village after Usopp was born, so course Usopp would be attached to his Ill Girl mom Bachina and deeply shaken when she fell ill and Usopp desperately tried to make her feel better on her deathbed. This included yelling to whole village and her that his father had returned when he hadn't, making him a boy who cried wolf for good reasons.

And of course there's Vinsmoke Sanji, though many might have guessed it from the start due to his underlining care for all women. Sanji loved his mother Sora deeply, and for good reason as his father King Judge is a huge asswipe and his brothers were even bigger bullying assholes, with only Sora and his sister Reiju (who coincidentally looks a lot like their mom) being kind to him. Sanji brought his ill mother food he made himself, despite being knowing nothing about cooking (at the time) but Sora loved his effort and ate it all up, and when she died Sanji decided to become a chef for her. When he learned Sora had taken a drug before his birth that had led to her death, Sanji was horrified... but Reiju explained she had done it in an attempt to make sure Sanji and his brothers would turn out normally, as Judge had experimented with them while they were still in Sora's womb. Sora's gambit worked, but only partially: out of the four boys only Sanji was born with humanity, while his brothers Ichiji, Niji and Yonji became almost completely amoral killing machines.

Comic Books

Superman is very much a momma's boy and will proudly proclaim to anyone who asks (and those who don't) that his mother made his costume for him. (Though in the New 52 era it looks like some kind of Kryptonian armor.)

Batman even before Martha Wayne was gunned down in front of him, Bruce loved his mother and missed her years to come. Even when Batman dies his mother appears in front of him and tells him he's reward for being Batman is of course: Being Batman man again (que resurrection). But it turns out Martha Wayne loved her son even more than he loved her as in Flashpoint when Bruce is killed in the alley instead of her she goes insane and becomes The Joker of the alternate universe. Her husband Thomas (who is AU Batman) gives her hope saying Bruce is alive and "well" in another world but unfortunately asks what he's like and Thomas informs her Bruce turns out him causing Martha commit suicide in horror.

Perhaps the ultimate example in comics is Peter Parker alias Spider-Man, although to be pedantic he really is an Auntie's Boy. But when he's mother "comes back" he is overjoyed and trusts her and his father with his identity as Spiderman. Unfortunately it tuns out they were not his parents at all but robots in disguise built by the Chameleon but his robot mother truly believed she was Mary Parker and fought against her robotic husband to protect Peter.

War Machine has some characteristics of this trope. He tries to do good deeds like stopping acts of genocide and thwarting likes of Norman Osborn so his mother can be proud of him.

In Cerebus the Aardvark, the pub owner Pud Withers is very devoted to his mother, to the point that his diary entries are addressed to her even though she's dead. He even apologizes to her as he's praying to Tarim for forgiveness for almost forcing himself on Jaka.

Old West has Teddy Glossy with his mother Grace Glossy. She has been Teddy's only care-giver for all ten years of his life because his father ran off before Teddy was born. Teddy loves his mother more than anything in the world and would do anything for her.

The Bridge has a positive example with Azusa Gojo and her adoptive son, Godzilla Junior. While she didn't turn him effeminate during her time raising him at Kyoto Institute when he was a youngster, the upbringing and love she showed him is what made him grow up into the Big Good. Twenty years later and they still consider each other mother and son respectively.

Films — Animated

Manolo Sanchez in The Book of Life. He and his mother Carmen had a close relationship.

Nuka from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride is a very dysfunctional example (imagine Disney meeting Norman Bates). It doesn't matter how much his mother Zira mistreats him, he's constantly craving for her approval and affection. He even tries to kill Simba to impress her and dies in the attempt, spending his last breath to apologize for his failure to Zira.

Frozen: For all the crimes he commits and as much as he likes to appear as The Sociopath, Prince Hans does care for his mother and is probably one of the few who still does so. Despite being regularly humiliated by his father and mocked by his brothers for being a momma's boy, he is still willing to attend her birthday.

Norman Bates from Psycho must be the creepiest and most dominated example of this in film history. Even though he killed his mother, she still dominates him from beyond the grave.

Alex Sebastian from Notorious. He's not as obvious an example as Norman Bates, but his mother still has her hooks in good and deep. Alex manages to stand up to her by marrying Alicia. Unfortunately, Alicia turns out to be an American spy, and so Alex's mother is able to step in and exert control again

Lionel from Braindead (also called Dead Alive) is a perfect example. He's so emotionally dependent on his mother that after she gets zombified he hides her in the basement, unable to bring himself to destroy her. That is, until he learns she killed his father for having an affair. That knowledge lets him break free just in time for the final battle.

Raymond Shaw, the protagonist of The Manchurian Candidate, is controlled utterly by his mother, to perhaps the most frightening possible degree.

German comedy Ödipussi. He gets better, which is symbolized when he pulls down his mother's hat over her face.

Ernest Borgnine's title character in Marty. His cousin Tommy is one too.

The title character in Cyrus is one... except that he's the one that's manipulative and controlling.

Assassin's Creed (2016): When his execution is faked and Callum Lynch has flashbacks to his childhood, they are mostly happy memories with his mother. If one thing can be said to solidify his allegiance to the Brotherhood, it is seeing his mom wearing Assassin robes and telling him that he's not alone.

Final Girl: Jameson teases Nelson for being so close to his mother as the guys pick him up for a new "hunt".

Jameson: What, is she not coming?

Folk Lore

In many European folk tales (for instance among the Romani), The Devil is sometimes described living in hell together with his mother and grandmother. (Since he can't be a married man obviously - marriage is a Catholic sacrament.) That makes this also a case of The Devil Is a Loser.

More "heroic" example: in Greek Mythology, the demi-god and hero Perseus was very protective of his beautiful mother, Danae. His adventures kickstarted when she was courted by an evil king who wanted her as his wife and him dead, so he tasked the guy with bringing him the monster Medusa's head, and thus began Perseus's Coming of Age story...

Another example from Greek Mythology is Hypnos, the god of sleep. He once sent Zeus to sleep so Hera could dick with Heracles without her husband finding out. When Zeus woke up, he was understandably pissed, so Hypnos ran off and hid behind his mother, Nyx, the Anthropomorphic Personification of night, and one of the few things in creation more powerful than an angry Zeus.

Literature

The son of the starring mother from Robert Munsch's Love You Forever, to Tear Jerker levels.

Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter. Since his mother Alice is mentally broken from many years ago and so is his father Frank, his grandmother Augusta raised him. She has him completely under her thumb, but while that is played for laughs, he eventually gains courage and his grandmother's pride of him during the Grand Finale.

Eddie Kaspbrak from Stephen King's IT is a former Momma's Boy with a domineering wife but manages to be kind of a hero too.

Another King example would be Larry Underwood from The Stand, though to a lesser degree.

The Doctor WhoEighth Doctor Adventures novel The Blue Angel is an Alternate Universe in which the Doctor is kind of one of these. (He's also Ambiguously Gay — Freud wouldn't have been surprised.) He's about forty and she's still trying to meddle in his personal life. To be fair, she's a mermaid who lives in a normal house in a nice little village and is therefore stuck in a wheelchair, and he's pretty far off his rocker — it makes sense they'd need each other's help. He lampshades it — as he has a bad leg when he goes to visit his mother, he comments on being reminded of Oedipus Rex. Interestingly, even in the several paragraphs of backstory about his childhood, his father is never mentioned, although an ex-boyfriend of his mother is.

The Silmarillion: Fëanor. He never knew his mother, but was ferociously devoted to her memory; he took personal offense when people mispronounced her name.

In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Percy Jackson adores his mother and would do anything for her. This is portrayed in a very positive light and doesn't detract from his badassness at all, as she raised him single-handedly after his dad left and the first book has him protecting her from his abusive stepfather. It also helps that his mom is a kind, selfless and all-round awesome person. Their closeness really stands out from the other demigods' less positive relationships with their parents.

Similar to Percy, Nick Gautier in The Dark Hunters is a troubled magical teen who loves his mother to death, and insulting/harming her is his one Berserk Button - though comparing him to his scumbag of a dad comes close, too.

Oblomov shares many characteristics with them, although his father isn't absent and also never shown to be a typical Henpecked Husband.

In Death series: Bobby from Memory In Death is this for his mother Trudy Lombard. He is told by Eve at the end that his Manipulative Bitch of a wife killed his Manipulative Bitch of a mother, and she would have killed him too. He knows that she is giving it to him straight, but he is unable to accept it. He is a victim to Eve cannot reach, and is clearly pitiable.

In John Gardner's Grendel, which is Beowulf told from the monster's point of view, Grendel was quite the little Mama's Boy as a lad.

It includes hurling himself at his mother when he became frightened (or when he feels horribly displaced or 'obscene'), followed by a very vague implied comfort-nursing. Since Grendel is recalling it in first-person, he remembers this.

His traumatic growing up scene begins with straying out too far into the morning, following the scent of a newborn calf. He finds it to be "as sweet as his mama's milk". Once again, he remembers. How old was he when this happened... eleven, maybe?

In his adult life, he drifts from being a Mama's Boy a little, despising his mother's apparently inability to speak or desire to leave their cave. And yet he always returns to her, with Mama trying to keep him from leaving her until he actually picks her up and puts her aside. Literally and figuratively. She didn't react well to "being put aside" and never tries to stop him from leaving again. Which is where Beowulf later kills him.

In Return to Neverend, David Inari's reaction to his mother's death caused him to withdraw from society at large and stop visiting the land he and she had created. His fixation is responsible for creating the White Queen.

Christopher in Flowers in the Attic will not tolerate any criticism or questioning of their mother, no matter how terrible things get as they spend years locked in the attic. It carries over into the second book, where he still makes lame excuses for her (despite the irrevocable proof of her abandoning them) and blasts sister Cathy for her obsession with destroying her. Not until he overhears her admit to poisoning them does he finally face facts. And even then, in the third book, it's he who has managed to forgive her to some extent and chastises Cathy for not doing so.

The Rifter: Fikiri. Represented as being very attached to his mother at a young age, and not growing away from her, and also being cowardly and petty. She is burned as a witch, and Fikiri blames John, whom he already hated, but this cements an undying enmity. Not that itï¿½s shown to be wrong, in general, to love and look up to your mother: the warm relationship between Saimura and his mother Ji demonstrates that.

A Song of Ice and Fire has a few, in a number of flavours. In the outright creepy corner, we have Robert "Sweetrobin" Arryn and his Epic-class My Beloved Smother Lysa—this pair manage one of the most horrible takes on the trope you'd ever hope not to meet—the poor boy is so smothered, his physical health is directly impacted, not just his mental. In the mixed-bag section, we have Cersei Lannister and her two boys. One isn't what you'd expect in a typical Momma's Boy at all, except she went out to emotionally cripple our implusiveJoffrey quite handily. Tommen, however... is the trope played both sweetly and very, very straight. For more marginal examples, there are Brandon Stark and Samwell Tarly. Deliberate it wasn't in either case, but they're both their mothers' darlings. Thankfully, they are among the most lightly smothered you'll find still kind of meeting this trope. And, as far as Sam is concerned, it's unclear how much is actually a case of "really didn't get along with Monster Dad, so had only one other option". Most of their sufferings have little to do with this trope, in fact. There are a few more knocking about the series, both in the backstory and the main one, but these are the big ones.

As revealed in a fan letter for Warrior Cats, Erin Hunter confirms that Tigerstar really did love his mama Leopardfoot over his dad Pinestar.

Live-Action TV

Scott McCall from Teen Wolf is the poster boy for a healthy version. Much like Percy Jackson above, Scott adores his mother Melissa McCall and would do anything for her; their relationship is portrayed in a very positive light and doesn't detract from his badassness at all, as she raised him single-handedly after kicking out his complete dick of a dad. Doesn't hurt that MamaMcCall is a kind, selfless, brave, badass and just an all-round awesome person. Also heartwarming: Mama McCall is a nurse, and Scott works as a Veterinary Assistant, studying to become a Vet-showing he clearly wants to be like her, saving lives and helping people/animals. And this◊ is usually how he looks at her.

Stefan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. According to Damon, Stefan was very close to his mother Lillian and he even called Stefan a "mama's boy" himself.

Dabney from Malcolm in the Middle takes this trope to a hilarious extreme when Dabney says "I know you think I'm a momma's boy", in which Malcolm replies "No, the momma's boys are laughing at you with their mothers!"

Malcolm and Francis have been accused of being momma's boys by several different love interests.

Ronnie Corbett's character Timothy Lumsden from Sorry, whole point of the series, which outstayed its welcome despite British Brevity.

Brutus on Rome is controlled and manipulated by his mother Servilia, to the point of betraying his father figure to the death. Though at one point in season one he goes against her wishes, and sides with Pompey in the civil war.

Tiberius from I, Claudius is his mother's favourite. Unfortunately, this means that his life is not his own, and he is the constant focus of her manipulations. He may say that he resents her actions, and sulk a lot, but he goes along with her schemes.

Howard Wolowitz. In fact, this is what elevates him from merely practicing Informed Judaism.

To lesser degrees, there's also Sheldon, whose mother still treats him like a child and is the only person who can tell him what to do, and Raj, who is frequently lectured via web-cam by his parents in India, who he still calls mummy and daddy.

Vinton Harper in Mama's Family. Despite being a grown adult, he still lives in the basement of his mother's house with his wife and always succumbs to his mother's strong iron will and a stronger temper. Even on the few occasions where he does back talks to his mother, he later feels guilty about it.

William, later known as Spike, in flashbacks on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He is devoted to his mother as a human (and it's his first defining relationship), and turns her into a vampire after Drusilla turns him because she was dying of tuberculosis. She's not particularly grateful, though, so he stakes her, though it obviously pains him to do it. This is also the root of his attraction to Drusilla, as his sire.

Nina from Just Shoot Me! dated a hunky actor who was really a momma's boy. It wasn't till the end of that episode that he showed how much of a momma's boy he really was.

Ducky of NCIS is a subversion, as due to his mother's dementia he's caring for her.

Jack from Three's Company. Although his mother only ever appears on the show once, his catch phrase is practically "Mommy!"

The Doctor Who episode "Vampires of Venice" had the villain's son be this. When Rory insults his beloved mummy, he goes after him with a rapier, eventually turning off his perception filter so he could rip him apart.

Luke Smith from The Sarah Jane Adventures absolutely adores his mother. The adoration is mutual and not in any way creepy. In fact, their relationship is the heart of the show. Even sweeter because Luke is adopted.

Jason Teague of Smallville's fourth season is a scary example, functioning as his Evil Matriarch of a mother's Dragon. She's more or less destroyed his self-esteem to the point where he can't do anything else.

Cam: There's a fish in nature that swims around with its babies in its mouth. That fish would look at Mitchell's relationship with his mother and say, "That's messed up."

Cameron's not one to talk though, as he's very close to his mother. To the extent that he doesn't believe Mitchell when he says she's always inappropriately touching him.

The 2009 NBC reality dating show called, appropriately enough, Momma's Boys, centered around three momma's boys whose mothers were along for the ride as the young men took part in the game to find a girlfriend. The show had many notable moments, among them:

One of the frontrunners for firefighter Michael was Erica Ellyson, the 2008 Penthouse Pet of the Year. Erica was terrified to tell Michael and his mother, Lorraine, about this fact, but she eventually came clean to both. Ironically, Michael was the one who expressed doubt as to whether or not he should ultimately choose Erica, while Lorraine actually encouraged him to choose her ("I have a choice between a doctor and a Penthouse Pet... and my mom wants me to choose the Penthouse Pet!"). Michael ended up not choosing Erica, but Erica and Lorraine had become close in spite of this. After the show and after the expiration of her contract with Penthouse, Erica went to Florida to visit Lorraine.

Jewish real estate broker Rob was clearly smitten with Camilla and was shown to have plenty of chemistry with her, but his mother, Esther, disapproved of Rob's choice because Camilla was black. Though she did not explicitly mention Camilla's race, Esther strongly hinted her disapproval of such by telling Rob, "Think of what the Passover table will look like," when trying to press him to choose a girl named Lauren. When Rob tried to plead his case by asking Esther, "What about my happiness?" in response to Esther's demand that he make her happy (by choosing Lauren), Esther coldly replied that she didn't care. Rob eventually caved in to his mother and chose Lauren to go with him on a romantic island trip, but was reported to have returned home from the trip after just one day, and without Lauren.

Khalood, mother of hockey player Jojo, famously insisted that her potential daughter-in-law not be black, Asian, Latino, "fat butt," Jewish, and so forth; Khalood wanted a girl who was "white, petite, and do what I tell her to." Her litany upset many of the girls, and created tension between them and her. When Jojo went out on a date with African-American Misty, Khalood demanded that the producers fly her via helicopter so that she could spy on them. Upon seeing Jojo and Misty in a hot tub embracing, Khalood became enraged. When the time came for the mothers to choose between two girls for one of their sons' two final dates (their sons would choose a different girl for the other final date), Khalood decided to deny both girls the final date and punctuated her decision by ripping up the plane ticket that was meant for whoever she had chosen. During her "final date" with Jojo, Khalood took the squick factor Up to Eleven when her comments about "her" Jojo being handsome and sexy came across sounding like she was sexualy attracted to him herself. Jojo, much to Khalood's disappointment, chose to go away with Mindy instead of going home with her. Khalood was offered counseling by the show's producers, which she rejected. She's since made multiple appearances on Dr. Phil, showing she's just as bad with her daughter's husband.

Frankie Howerd Rather You Than Me: Frankie and his mum are very close. His dad isn't on the scene because his mother threw him out when he discovered that he was a child molester.

In the episode where we meet his mother, Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine is revealed to be a mild one of these; while he's clearly functional in her absence he's nevertheless very close to and protective of his mother Karen, reacting with over-defensive fury when his Disappeared Dad shows up and it's revealed that they've started dating again.

Richard Castle in Castle plays with the trope; he's clearly close and devoted to his mother Martha and still lives under the same roof as her despite being a grown man, but it's actually her having moved in with him after she lost all her money, and far from her trying to dominate his life, it's usually more that he's trying to keep her out of trouble, since she tends towards being rather flighty and irresponsible (which says something, given that Castle himself isn't exactly a pillar of maturity or anything). Nevertheless, the two are clearly quite close.

Music

The Suzi Quatro song "Mama's Boy"; she wishes he was more manly.

The Wilco song "Misunderstood" has the line You know you're just a mama's boy.

Britney Spears's song "Dramatic" has the lines "go run to your mama, see if she can save you", essentially calling him a mama's boy after their split.

Mr. Burling: You're twenty-eight, you have a ridiculous job, and you still live with your mother. Arthur: Well, yeah, but not in the "ooh, still lives with his mother" way people are thinking when they laugh about it. I just live with her because we get on really well, like friends, so why pay rent? Mr. Burling: That is precisely what people are thinking when they laugh about it.

The title character of Albert Herring is often teased for living under his mother's thumb. Being crowned King of the May only heightens his shame, and he decides he needs to cut loose in the worst way.

In Pokémon Live!, Delia sees Ash as this, although he wants to get out of it and be a man. It turns out Delia wants Ash to remain like this in order to protect him from Team Rocket.

Extra credit for being a more spiritual sort of "motherhood" courtesy of the Jenova cells Sephiroth was originally infected with, and also courtesy of Jenova not even being determinately female or necessarily even fully aware of it. It's definitely how Sephiroth acts about the whole affair, though.

He might just have delusions that his imaginary Mother loves him and would like him to turn the planet into their own personal family barbecue, then using it as a transport to go to new planets to eat at, as it is unknown how Jenova can even communicate with him.

Cloud is a positive take on this trope, having been raised by a single mother.

Good ol' Seymour Guado from Final Fantasy X. The guy's got some massive Oedipal issues. Though the hate he has of his father completely overrides the love for his mother. Unlike a certain other Final Fantasy Momma's Boy...

Pelleas from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn would probably qualify, if he were actually Almedha's biological son. Tibarn even calls him a Momma's Boy.

While Brady of Fire Emblem Awakening loves his mother Maribelle dearly, he criticises her at some point because, since she once was a My Beloved Smother to him, he turned out to become this and couldn't save her from death.

Fire Emblem Fates has Prince Takumi, who used to be extremely timid as a child and would cling quite a bit to his mother Queen Mikoto. Or better said, his Parental Substitute since she was his father's second spouse. He was hit the hardest out of the Hoshidan siblings when Mikoto died in an Heroic Sacrifice for the Avatar, tends to have nightmares about it, and one of his reasons to attack Nohr in Conquest is that he's incredibly angry after seeing the Avatar side with the nation who caused such a terrible incident which makes it very easy for the Big Bad to apply Demonic Possession to him as the game goes on.

In Baten Kaitos Origins, one of Sagi's defining character traits is his love for his mother, and many of the decisions he makes throughout the game are attempts to help or please her. It later leads to one of his best moments.

Scary Black Man Sig in the Jak and Daxter series, who reminisces about his mother telling him stories and handing him warm milk and his "little Poopsie Bear" when he was a child. (He's about the only character whose mother has even been mentioned besides Keira, which puts him one up on the rest of the world.)

One staple of the MOTHER series is that the protagonists all have really, really good relationships with their moms. In EarthBound, Ness might get homesick and lose the will to fight unti he either visits or calls his mom. In the third game this gets Played for Drama. Poor Lucas...

In Borderlands 2, Psychos have some... interesting things to say about their mothers. Hell, the challenge for killing certain numbers of them is even called "Mama's Boys". From the Assassinate the Assassins mission:

Psycho #1: I can still taste her lovely sweatbox! She fed me such tears of ecstasy!

Psycho #2: LIAR! I ripped out her bumpy tummy, and her hot screams were for ME!

Psycho #1: Mommy bled for us both! She bled for us both!

In Shop Heroes, Gauvin (a squire aspiring to be a Knight in Shining Armor) sometimes mentions having to consult his mother when you're selling him things. Also, some of his personal quests are to get her presents.

Visual Novels

Teruteru Hanamura from Super Dangan Ronpa 2 really loves his mom and it's even stated to be one in his profile. This is what drives him to murder because he wants to get out of the island so he can find out if she's okay, since she's also an Ill Girland a Workaholic. He also he has a brief flashback after the first trial as he tells how he is worried about her declining health due to overwork in her restaurant, and he screams for his mother before the execution starts.

Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side's flamboyant artist, Mihara Shiki, loves his mommy and doesn't mind saying so. In this case it's not exactly presented as a negative so much as simply an indication of his quirkiness - for example, in one of his events he drapes himself against a bust he made of his mother, lamenting that she's not there right now, giving the heroine the impression that his mother is dead... but no, she's at home making dinner.

Dave later shows signs of being this to Roxy, despite their technically being the same age and her having had absolutely nothing to do with his upbringing. He even has difficulty not referring to her as "mom".

Web Original

Zaboo from The Guild is this trope to the comic extreme. The last few webisodes of the first season center on the guild helping him break free of his mother, treating her as the most scary and powerful boss of all time

Played even sadder with Donnie's love for his mom in Demo Reel. Why? Because she committed suicide when he was a kid.

Western Animation

Walt, Larry and Igner of Futurama are a trio of this trope. They allow themselves to be entirely dominated by their mother, Mom. Igner is a retard, Larry is a coward, and Walt has the worst Oedipus Complex you'll ever see.

Walt: (right after being insulted and slapped by Mom) "Some day I want to marry a girl like her."

Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy, who lives in his mother's basement.

Tobey, a young Evil Genius who can bring his city to its knees with his large robots and gives the title heroine a run for her money...but is very often thwarted when his mother appears, snatches away his controls, and drags him away by his ear.

Archer Sterling "Duchess" Archer is rather more of one than he cares to admit.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Prince Zuko - his mother was the best and steadiest influence on his life, until she vanished mysteriously. When he struggles with the morally right thing to do, the idea of what his mother would want of him is never far away.

DuckTales has plenty of examples. All of the Beagle Boys are under the thumb of their fierce mother, Ma Beagle. Fenton Crackshell is also very devoted to his mother, with whom he lives in a trailer park.

In Mickey MouseWorks and House of Mouse (the latter recycling many shorts from the former), it was a Running Gag for Professor Ludwig Von Drake to be intimidated by his mother yelling at him from offscreen.

Real Life

Legendary Snickers-hurling, van-driving, anything-welding badass Mr. T has declared himself to be "Just a big tough overgrown mama's boy". Suddenly the term loses a lot of its force as an insult...

Mr T.: "I am a Momma's Boy. I PITY THE FOOL WHO AIN'T ONE!"

General Douglas MacArthur's mother always told him he had to grow up to be as great as his father, Arthur MacArthur, Jr. (Lieutenant General, and military governor of the Philippines for a time). Also, while he was a bachelor, he kept a mistress in a hotel, unbeknownst to his mother.

Jorge Luis Borges was like this too. One example: when he was in his 60s, he was offered some wine, and his mother said, "The boy doesn't drink wine." He had become blind at that time, if you wonder why his mother still had to care for him.

Jake Gyllenhaal appears to be this, if one of his interviews with Jimmy Kimmel is any indication. He told a very lengthy anecdote about her getting him a present, describing her as a "badass chick" for her sheer persistence.

Professional Wrestling has WCW wrestler Buff Bagwell and his mother, Judy, who was made one-half of the WCW World Tag Team Champions in 1998 with Rick Steiner. Both Buff and Kanyon would fight in a "Judy Bagwell on a Pole Forklift" match in 2000. It was also rumored that Bagwell was fired from the WWF in 2001 because Judy was calling the WWF offices to complain about Buff's travel schedule. However, it was also likely due to his notorious stinker of a match against Booker T on the July 2 Raw.

Javier Bardem; he notably dedicated his Oscar win for No Country for Old Men to his mother (In Spanish, no less), and cites her career as an actress as his inspiration for becoming an actor himself.

Former World Heavyweight Boxing Champ Lennox Lewis' autobigraphy was even entitled "Mommas Boy". Not that I would call him on it or anything.

The Roman Emperor Severus Alexander, who was only fourteen when his mother arranged for him to come to power. She was known as 'Mother of Augustus, and of the camps, and of the senate, and of the Fatherland', in case anyone was in any doubt about who was really in charge. Eventually, they were both murdered.

Elvis Presley made a promise to both his parents that he would take care of them once he made it big, and he kept that promise, even bringing them to live at Graceland. Their graves are there, right beside his.

Johnny Cash: (Elvis Presley) was a kid when I worked with him. He was nineteen years old, and he loved cheeseburgers, girls, and his mother, not necessarily in that order (it was more like his mother, then girls, then cheeseburgers).

German author Erich Kästner (whom you may know from the book that became adapted as The Parent Trap) was this in Real Life and also wrote many characters like this in his books.

Ronnie and Reggie Kray were notorious London Gangsters, "but they loved their mum".

NFL receiver Andre Johnson, after being goaded into a fistfight with opposing cornerback Cortland Finnegan, was later asked in an interview what his mother thought about it. He responded that he'd rather not say what his 'Momma' said about him fighting.

Speaking of NFL players, the very first thing that linebacker Ray Lewis, considered one of the game's toughest, most physical players, bought after he got his first contract? An apartment in the city he moved to play in for his mom, down the hall from his apartment. The two still have a close relationship.

Russian NHL winger and current super star Alexander Ovechkin is an admitted Momma's Boy. He is single and often stays with his parents, while his mother cooks and washes for him.

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